Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 AndrewJO May 20, 2015 22:57:16	Hey guys, some of you may have seen me post here before but I wanted to start off this topic by saying that I'm new to DnD, I started 2 months ago and I've played less than 10 encounters. We're currently playing HotDQ, and we're moving painfully slow. It's taken us 4 sessions to get where we are currently, just inside the cultist camp surrounded by a plateau. Today we started just outside the camp, where we proceeded to spend at least one hour (no joke) just discussing how to quietly eliminate the 4 kobold guards in the watch tower. I'm getting sick of this slow progress, and I feel that at this rate I'm never going to move to the next tier of adventures (I'm currently lvl 3). Our group is composed of some veteran players, and a couple newbies. Despite lack of experience, I've sort of taken on the roll of the party leader. Not everyone listens to me (I don't want them to, I'm not their boss just another player) but it seems like the newer players wait for me to act, even the DM seems to ask me directly what our group is doing. I don't mind being the leader and giving everyone advice, but I don't want to be responsible for every choice we make as a group. We're a team, and this is about everyone having fun and getting their chance to shine. How to I speed up the pace of the game without speaking for the entire party?
#2 TheBreen May 21, 2015 9:21:45	AndrewJO wrote:
#3 Coredump00 May 21, 2015 9:33:12	If they are (mostly) willing to follow you, go ahead and speak for the entire party.  Always take input, and allow people to help plan.... but don't let folks waste an hour like that.  Go ahead and take charge, and once a plan is made, start doing it.   *Worst* case scenario.... your pretend characters on pieces of paper 'die'.... and you get to make new pretend characters on pieces of paper. (And that isn't a likely scenario.)
#4 Pauper May 21, 2015 11:58:44	This is actually good practice for adult life, when you find yourself sitting in a room with five other people, the boss says 'we need someone to come up with a plan for this project', and everybody looks at you.   -- Pauper
#5 Kalani May 21, 2015 12:37:10	Reluctant leaders often make the best kind - as they are generally more willing to listen to input from other players. A classic literary example is Tanis Half-Elven from the dragonlance saga, who was the reluctant leader of the "heroes of the lance".
#6 BRJN May 21, 2015 18:52:05	Andrew, I had sort of the same experience, joining an HotDQ group at Baldur's Gate and becoming the Leader because I was often first to come up with a decent (not "spectacular") plan.   Spend some time with each other player one-on-one.  Find out what their characters can do well, so you can call in the Expert for each situation.  (Wizards can explain Arcana, high-STR guy to break down doors, who trained Perception, &c.)  Also find out what they are bad at, so you don't embarrass them with an impossible task. You can be a Bad Leader if you try to do everything yourself, or if you berate others when they fail / roll bad on a try.  These mistakes are easy to avoid.   BEWARE - like what happened to me when our DM had to leave the group, you might become  the new DM !
#7 Tyranthraxus May 21, 2015 21:57:51	Generally the leader in my expeditions games tends to be the guy that writes down loot as we find it.  Most of the time thats the same person, sometimes its others.   I try to ask direct questions to each character at the table and of course only the people who actually talk during a discussion get to make the corresponding skill check rolls. I have people totally intimidating the npcs asking to make persuasion rolls!
(Reply to #6) AndrewJO	BRJN wrote:
#9 shaterbane May 23, 2015 8:37:19	BRJN wrote:
#10 BRJN May 26, 2015 16:32:19	AndrewJO wrote:
#11 Noon May 26, 2015 17:21:04	AndrewJO wrote:
(Reply to #11) AndrewJO	Noon wrote:
#13 AndrewJO May 27, 2015 23:03:14	Well, I fell asleep and missed the game. I guess that's one way to not be a leader :P
#14 Noon May 28, 2015 17:05:24	I think it's better to play and maybe die on your feet than spend hours in analysis paralysis not playing/on your knees.